Almost 7 percent of Slovaks are dependent on subsistence benefits
The number of Slovaks living off subsistence benefits has been hovering around 180,000 for a long time, with the figure standing exactly at 181,845 in August, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (ÚPSVaR) has announced, adding that this form of support is most often granted to individuals.
Most of the subsistence benefit recipients live in Košice Region (more than 41,000), Banská Bystrica Region (over 35,000) and Prešov Region (almost 34,000). Bratislava which has the lowest unemployment rate, reported the lowest number of people dependent on this form of state aid (almost 5,000). The amount per individual is €60.50 a month, the TASR newswire quoted the ÚPSVaR. Despite the fact that these benefits are most often granted to individuals, there are still around 20,000 people who collect the benefits and live in a common household with other people (often children). If these people were included in the overall statistics, the number would have jumped up to 354,494 in May. This means that from the 5.4 million population, 7.56 percent are actually dependent on base or subsistence level state assistance.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
